Prequel to Three Wise Men
by dawn341
Summary: You MUST read Three Wise Men before reading this story,


The Great Christmas Tree Hunt by Dawn Cunningham

Disclaimers:

Duncan, Richie, and Methos belong to Rysher. I'm just borrowing them and not getting paid for it.

Do not post or publish this story anywhere else, without my express permission. Feel free to share it with others as long as the disclaimers remain intact.

This story was written many years ago.

Author's notes:

This is a prequel to the story The Three Wise Men. I strongly recommend that you read that one first.

* HL * HL * HL * HL * HL *

The Great Christmas Tree Hunt by Dawn Cunningham

Joe Dawson hung up the phone and emerged from his office. As expected, Duncan MacLeod and Methos were still sitting at the bar drinking beer. Moving as quickly as his prostheses allowed, Joe went behind the bar.

"I need your guys' help," Joe said as he refilled their glasses.

"Sure, Joe," Duncan replied. "What do you need?"

"I just booked a Christmas party for tomorrow night. I need to get the bar decorated before then."

"Sounds easy enough," Duncan said. "We can help you do that tomorrow."

"Well, the problem is that I don't have a tree, yet. I won't have time to go out and get one tomorrow, so I was hoping that maybe you guys could pick one up for me. Maybe one of those artificial ones that I can reuse every year. It's too much hassle with the live ones."

"An artificial tree!" Duncan protested. "Really, Joe, where's your Christmas spirit? I'll get you a real tree."

"Oh, that's a perfect example of Christmas spirit," Methos said. "Go out and kill a living tree just so you can hang baubles and lights on it."

Duncan glared at the older Immortal. "Well, it beats decorating a piece of plastic that just barely resembles a tree." Both Immortals suddenly tensed up and looked toward the door to the bar. Joe recognized the look after years of watching Immortals - another one was approaching.

A moment later, the door opened and Richie Ryan sauntered in. "Hey, guys, I thought I'd find you here."

"Hey, Rich," Duncan greeted him. "Welcome home."

"Thanks, Mac," Richie replied as he sat down on the bar stool next to his former teacher. "Decided I wanted to spend the holidays at home. What's going on?"

"You're just in time, we're going to go get a Christmas tree for Joe," Duncan explained.

"Sounds like fun," Richie said.

"Great, let's go. C'mon, Methos."

"Hey! I didn't volunteer for this little outing. I think you can handle it by yourself. Especially with Ryan here to help out."

"You're the one with the sports utility vehicle. It'll make it much easier to get the tree back here." Duncan grabbed the older Immortal's arm. "Let's go."

Methos grumbled, but got to his feet. "Just remember, there'd better not be any scratches or tree sap left on my car. This wasn't my idea."

"The only sap will be the one inside the car," Duncan assured him, patting Methos on the shoulder before heading for the door.

Richie laughed and followed him.

"Thanks, Joe," Methos muttered. "This is just what I needed."

Joe just shrugged and grinned. For a moment he was tempted to follow the trio, but more customers came in the door and he turned his mind to business.

* HL * HL * HL * HL * HL *

"This is great," Richie said, as he waited for Duncan and Methos to join him. He rubbed his hands together to generate a little warmth. Even with leather gloves on, he could still feel the cold seeping in.

"Wrong. This is freezing," Methos said, as he came over to stand by the young Immortal. He had his hands shoved deep in his coat pockets.

Duncan joined them, carrying the ax they had picked up from his storage locker. "Let's go. We don't have much time before this place closes."

"How long can this take?" Richie asked. "We just pick a tree, whack it with the ax and we're outta here. Look, there's a good one over there." He led the way to the tree he'd picked out. "Go ahead, Mac, chop it down."

"Now, hold on, Richie," Duncan replied, as he studied the tree. "You're right. This tree looks pretty good, but we should look around a bit first. We might find something better. Remember, this is for Joe."

"Hey, when you find perfection, why look any further? Give me the ax - I'll chop it down," Richie said.

"How many times have I told you to look before you leap?" Duncan replied. "In this case it's look before you cut. Once you chop down that tree, we're stuck with it. I think we ought to look around some more. Don't you agree, Methos?"

"Leave me out of this," Methos said. "I'm just driving the car."

"Fine. Then I say we look further," Duncan said, as he shouldered the ax.

Richie rolled his eyes and followed him deeper into the trees. A few moments later the two Immortals returned. They each took one of Methos' arms and pulled him along.

"Don't want you to miss any fun," Duncan said.

"I would have survived," Methos replied, but he continued to move forward.

Duncan picked out the next tree. "How about this one?"

"Too short," Richie said. "Mine was much nicer."

Duncan studied the tree. "Maybe you're right."

They continued their search. Richie found faults with every tree. Too tall. Too short. Too round. Too thin.

"Okay, how about this one?" Duncan asked, his voice filled with exasperation.

Richie walked around the tree. "It's got a bald spot - right here," he said pointing to the area.

"Where?" Duncan demanded, going around to join him. "That's not too bad. We can just turn that to the wall. No one will ever know."

"I'll know! So will you. I say we go back and get the tree I picked out."

"What do you think, Methos? Isn't this tree good enough?"

Methos shrugged before hunching down in his coat. "Whatever you think best."

"You're a big help," Duncan snapped. "Okay, I admit it. I was wrong, Richie. Your tree was the best choice. Let's go back and get it. We have just enough time before the place closes."

Richie beamed. "I knew you'd see it my way." He headed back to the other tree.

Methos walked up next to Duncan. "Well, miracles do happen. Duncan MacLeod actually admitted he was wrong. What is the world coming to?"

"Oh, shut up," Duncan said, as he headed after Richie.

They got back to the first tree had stood, only to find it gone.

"Someone took *my* tree!" Richie said. "How could they?"

"Technically, it wasn't your tree," Duncan said. "It was fair game to anyone who wanted it."

"I told you it was a good tree! Obviously, someone else agreed with me," Richie said. "If you hadn't been stubborn we'd have been out of here a long time ago. Now we'll have to go back and get that other tree."

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I'm ready to close up for the night," the attendant on duty informed them. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"But we don't have a tree yet," Richie protested.

"I'm sorry. You'll have to come back tomorrow." The attendant almost pushed them out of the tree farm, locking the gate behind them.

"Have fun explaining this to Joe," Richie said, as they climbed in the car. "He's really going to be ticked off."

"Now hold on," Duncan protested. "We're in this together. Right?" Silence filled the car. "C'mon, guys, right?"

"I'm just along to drive the car," Methos replied.

"Hey, I'm the youngster here," Richie said. "What would I know about picking a Christmas tree? You're on your own."

"No way!" Duncan insisted. "We came out together, we'll go back to Joe's together and explain this. How mad could he get? It's just a Christmas tree."

Silence filled the car again.

When they got back to the bar, Duncan didn't give them a chance to escape. He grabbed the car keys as soon as they pulled to a stop, and almost dragged the other two Immortals into the bar with him.

They went over and sat down on stools next to the bar. Joe poured them all drinks and placed one in front of each man.

"So what happened?" Joe finally asked.

The End.


End file.
